If there was one buzzword at the Association of Coupon Professionals conference this year, it was digital. Coupon sessions entitled “Emerging Technology” and “Digital Coupon Trends and Insights” showed what the industry is focused on — digital coupon delivery. In the industry, “digital” refers not only to load-to-card or load-to-phone ecoupons but also to print-at-home coupons, both of which most coupon shoppers are quite familiar with.
What you may not be aware of is how much the industry is preparing to shift to digital. I say “shift,” because in sitting through each of these sessions, I realized that the days of the traditional coupon newspaper insert may be numbered. Statistics about the decline in newspaper readership and subscription were tossed out over and over throughout the conference — newspaper subscription rates are falling at an average of 9% each year. How long can something sustain itself if it continues to lose nearly ten percent of its audience each year? Certainly, newspapers will always be around, but more people are looking to the web for their news content each year. And if people are looking elsewhere for their news, manufacturers want to make sure that their advertisements and coupons follow the audience.
For today’s coupon shopper though, opening the Sunday paper and flipping through the store flyers and coupon inserts is a weekly ritual. What will we flip through without physical coupon inserts?
Believe it or not, the technology to create a tangible, digital insert already exists. Henri Lellouche of the SmartSource iGroup (NewsAmerica’s electronic marketing division) gave an incredible presentation on an iPad that left the room’s collective jaw on the floor. If you’re not already familiar with the iPad newspaper The Daily, watch this short video about how the popular tablet-only newspaper works:
Now that you’ve seen it, imagine using this interface to flip through not only The Daily, but your traditional inserts too. Touch and open up this week’s Best Buy ad. Or the entire SmartSource coupon insert. Or the P&G Brandsaver. Because guess what… that’s exactly what Mr. Lellouche showed at the conference.
Seeing the March P&G Brandsaver in digital form on a big screen was nothing short of extraordinary. Using the same finger-flip motion that anyone with a smartphone or tablet device is already familiar with, Mr. Lellouche flipped through the P&G insert, which looked identical to the paper one we received in March — except that none of the coupons had barcodes on them. Instead, when he touched them, a popup invited him to load the ecoupons to his loyalty card via SmartSource’s “direct2card” interface.
The “paper” part of the P&G insert’s ad was interactive as well — when he came to the page with a Swiffer coupon, Mr. Lellouche touched a box and a video about the Swiffer began to play.
Similar functionality existed for all of the digital inserts and flyers shown — the Best Buy weekly flyer was another example shown in digital form for the iPad. He flipped through the pages and touched a television set in the ad. A popup showed a video about the television, inviting the user to touch & explore more features. Another digital coupon example showed an ad for pasta sauce. Touch the coupon hotspot, and a popup invited the user to click and send a link to a printable coupon for the product to an email address.
Of course, as someone who subscribes to multiple papers for the coupons, I sat wondering what was in store for the put-scissors-to-paper coupon crowd. The idea of everyone reading the news on a handheld tablet instead of holding a newspaper seems so futuristic at first… and yet, that reality is already here. Look at the rise in ebook readers — even people who love the printed word on the page also like the freedom to carry hundreds of books around on a small device.
What does the future hold for coupon inserts?
Understand that the manufacturers love the control that digital coupons offer to them – two prints per computer, one ecoupon load to a shopper’s loyalty card. As much as we love getting multiple inserts, the reality is that a manufacturer would much rather issue 1,000 cereal coupons and see 1,000 people each buy one box of cereal with those coupons… versus one person using all 1,000 coupons to buy 1,000 boxes of cereal. Transitioning to digital ensures that the “flow” of coupons is limited to a per-person ratio that the manufacturer deems reasonable.
However, the death knell for inserts isn’t sounding just yet. In a conference session presented by Dan Kitrell of Kantar Media (Kantar Media authors the “Free Standing Insert Distribution Trends” publication each year,) Mr. Kitrell stated that newspaper coupon inserts still retain the largest share of coupon distribution. In 2010, 87.7% of coupons for consumer packaged goods (CPG) were distributed via newspaper inserts. The remaining 12.3% of coupon distribution broke down as follows:
Handouts / In-Store: 5.2%
Direct Mail: 2.4%
Magazines: 2.2%
In and on-package: 1.1%
All other media (includes all digital formats): less than 2%.
Digital coupons, print-at-home and ecoupons, comprised less than 2% of all CPG coupons redeemed last year.
Based on those numbers, it’s safe to say that coupon inserts will still be around for quite some time. And, call me old-fashioned, but I still like to hold and flip through my stores’ flyers in my hands, not on a screen. I like to cut my coupons out, and I like having the option to purchase more newspapers to stock up. The technology to deliver coupons electronically is already here… but that doesn’t mean everyone’s ready to embrace it.
With newspaper subscriptions declining though, it will be interesting to see how the inserts continue to be distributed. RedPlum made waves back in 2009 when they pulled the inserts from the newspapers in selected markets, instead choosing to direct-mail them to households. Will we see similar changes in the years ahead?
artofthedeal says
Limiting people to one coupon load will certainly stop the extreme couponer crowd. Can’t dumpster dive or use Ebay to buy digital coupons!
DiamondCass says
I just saw a commercial for the iPad2. I wonder – Jill, did they talk any about the market saturation for these devices? Looking around, I don’t think it’s anywhere near the 10% it usually hits before the 10-90% upswing that usually takes place with a new consumer product. Not denying this is the future, but it seems to me it might still have time.
I’d love to have one of these devices, but right now in our family we are being more practical with our spending, and I don’t think we’re alone in this economy.
jewelover says
If the offers don’t come off at the register then what? We have all experienced the mess that is Dominick’s Just for U. Try standing in the lane and conivincing them that you have this that or the other loaded to your card and they shout back you need to bring a printout to prove it. Can I print these things off the iPad for stores like Dominicks who insist they wont fix it if something doesn’t come off? Do I have to carry the iPad to the store with me to prove it? What if like DOminicks, in the time from when I load it to the time I get to the store, the coupons mysteriously disappear. *But I loaded it at home.* Well we have no record of that, too bad.
Also I don’t think the world is ready for this. I have seen on several Dominick’s trips senior citizens going to customer service wanting the Just For U prices shown on a shelf sign. The exchang goes like this:
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* How do I get this Just for U $1.99 price?
You have to load that ecoupon to your Fresh Values card at home on a computer.
* I don’t have a computer.
We have computers right here in the store, sit down.
* Old person sits down and is blank bcause they never use a computer. Employee sighs and 15 minutes later loads the ecoupons for the person.
Now don’t forget these offers take one hour to activate sir, so enjoy wandering around the store for 60 minutes before you can use them!
**********************
Here’s what else I don’t like about it, the control. If a company decides an offer’s too hot, they pull it down. We have all seen Jewel do this with Avenu, during great sales. *Oh you had $2 off Bounty loaded to your card and Bounty is on sale, but now your ecoupon is gone? Whoops, too bad!*
Give me paper coupons any day!
Outlander says
And what if I load a SS Q on say Dominicks card, but then there is a better sale at Jewel and I want to use it there, can I unload it and reload on a different card? I wonder how they would figure that out?
FDeRosier says
I’d really appreciate hearing if anyone has any tips regarding how to print coupons from an iPad. I am currently unable to figure out how to print any coupons. I think maybe a coupon printing app is required, but am unable to locate any of those either. Although in all fairness, I haven’t looked for any apps in the last month or so, so there could have been some added recently. I do have a cordless printer, and have been able to print other things from my iPad…just not coupons. Any ideas or tutorials that anyone can forward are welcome!
woodstock06 says
I guess I am one of the few that actually likes the way things are.I like technology but it is taking over the world.I still like to read a book.An actual book.NOT on a screen.And I like to put a CD in and not have to down load it to my computer.I am a HUGE recycler.If buy CD’s and books at resale shops.And when I am done I re-donate.But I like to actually have something in hand.I don’t have an I-phone.But I feel like I am being pressured to eventually get one.I am going to enjoy getting my papers for now.
Yukipr says
I am old fashion too and I am on my early 30’s. I love to pick up hard cover books, feel the texture of the pages and be inmersed. I already spend over 6 hours at work looking at a computer and I do not want to spend extra time infront of an iPad. My phone, its old fashion too. I only needed to make and receive a phone call. I love enjoying the noises out there.
That being said, for me… thanks technology, but I can live with out you as long as I can. I still want to cut the coupons, scan thru the inserts 1,000 times…. So, I really hope the reseach has been properly done and it is not some sort of pushing technology thru our troats. I agree with limiting coupon usage (for those extreme couponers shown on TV), but we will be also suffering. Going back to Jill’s first post on these series, I think that maybe they should tackle those coupons clippers site first if they really want to control coupon usage. Other alternative, limit transactions to 50-100 coupons. (On my big shopping spreeds, I had used no more than 30). Bottom line, I want my inserts delievered home.
couponsfortheresa says
If we have to print out copies of what ecoupons we loaded to the card for verification. Or if home printables are the way of the future I hope the values increase because it will cost us more money in paper and ink. As it is I hate printing out anything less then .50
SavingStar says
Hi, I’m Josh with SavingStar (https://savingstar.com). This topic is right up our alley since we just launched 2 weeks ago as the only national digital grocery coupon service working at over 100 retailers. Our service does in fact link the eCoupons you select to all of your registered loyalty cards. Jill is right about the decline in newspaper readership being a big reason why online coupons are becoming increasingly popular. 49 million people used an online coupon last year.
We believe that the bigger shift in coupon usage will be how many people are upgrading their “feature” phones to smartphones. We’ve already seen tens of thousands of downloads of our iPhone and Android apps, which shows that many people don’t want to bother clipping or printing coupons, and they want to be able to select coupons without having to plan their shopping trip beforehand. With mobile coupons, you can select them while walking the aisles in the store. We’ve seen this with books, movie and music streaming, and newspaper delivery declines. The future is clearly digital, it’s just a question of how fast.
mickeyd says
I agree that the electronic coupons need to be of a higher value before I’ll print them. With the cost of paper and ink, I don’t bother printing a lot of the coupons Jill provides links to unless they are high value. Most of those only print one per page, in color, and, in the end, with my additional costs, don’t save me enough to make it worth my while. Also, because I am trying to save money in many ways, I don’t have a SMART phone, but a tracfone, so coupons that are loaded onto a phone don’t help me, nor will they help the older people that don’t have that type of technology.
cfbandit says
Well, and the other problem with smart phone apps is – what if you don’t have a Droid or iPhone. I’ve got a Nokia Symbian OS phone for the next year and a half. No one makes a coupon app for it. I’d be cut off from my coupons because my phone manufacturer didn’t use the top 2 OSes?
It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
cg1 says
this is one I’m running into more and end up not participating. I use coupontom, will see a coupon offer at his site and click on the link that looks like it will take you to print it. Instead it shows as needing to like them or whatever on facebook to get a coupon sent to you.
Don’t have facebook and guess I’m not interested enough in setting up an account just to get a coupon.
Digital is fine but have an alternate backup for some of us. I really feel for my grandmother who isn’t online.
cg1 says
mentioned in Jill’s article states it’s free for a few weeks then goes to 99 cents a week. I’m thinking the code finders get a whole week of the hardcopy Tribune for less than that with coupons all in one spot.